


The air is thick back here [Discontinued]

by Xaphrr



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Injury, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Angst, Gore, M/M, backrooms, gay grandpas? Gay grandpas., horror-ish?, mostly angst, unreality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26597275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xaphrr/pseuds/Xaphrr
Summary: “If your not careful and noclip out if reality in wrong areas, you'll end up in the backrooms, where it's nothing but the stink of moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, and endless backround noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hindered million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in.”“God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell heard you.”I guess Gordon didn’t know that
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman, Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life), Tommy Coolatta/Darnold
Comments: 11
Kudos: 79





	1. Entering the Backrooms

**Author's Note:**

> A section across from him, near the leftmost corner of the room, was a part of the wall that was intact. Sure, there was rubble around it, but the wall paper wasn’t fraying, it looked brand new, and unlike the other parts of the walls, it seemed darker in color too. Not in a way that would be seen as a printing error, it just seemed unnaturally darker, like it wasn’t made to look like that.
> 
> Something drew his attention to it.

Gordon had never been the clumsy type. Sure, he’d trip every now and then, but nothing ever came of it. That was the case until October third. 

Gordon had been traveling across the country every October with his friends Barney and Alyx to places that where apparently haunted. Of course, he never believed those stories, about demons, cults, possessions and such; but it was fun to see if he could rile up a few ghosts while he was at it.

They all decided that they would visit a abandoned underground lab in New Mexico, it used to belong to a company called “Black Mesa,” but it shut down in 2003. Almost 20 years what old enough to have some ghosts floating around in it, right?

The air down there was thick, and extremely musky, the smell of rot overflowing throughout. The lights, for the most part, were either broken or off. The few lights that were on had a soft yellow glow to them, heat irradiating from the florescent lights, and a gentle hum-buzz that broke the silence of the abandoned laboratory. The walls were stained with chemicals and what looked to be dried blood. Yet, there were no bodies where the blood could’ve come from. 

Barney, a 25 year-old man and Gordon’s closest friend, shuffled around in piles of rubble that he found lying around in the lab, and found a crowbar. 

When he did, he tossed it to Gordon, sarcastically saying “you might need this, dont want some suspicious science ghosts to attack ya. They might try teaching you about quantum physics!” Followed my a small chuckle. His sense of humor always seemed to lighten the mood of any situation.

They found a fork in the road and all decided to split up to see if they could find anything interesting. Gordon alone, and Alyx and Barney alone. they all held their phones in hand, and Gordon had a crowbar in his other hand. Gordon was already recording, so he didn’t need to worry about missing something. 

While walking, he took the moment to analyze the room around him. The lights where off, and it was extremely dark. That flashlight on his phone is pretty handy, isn’t it? The tiles on the floor were cracked and stained, covered with dirt and grime. The wallpaper was falling apart on every on of the 4 walls in the room. Well, except for one part of the room. 

A section across from him, near the leftmost corner of the room, was a part of the wall that was intact. Sure, there was rubble around it, but the wall paper wasn’t fraying, it looked brand new, and unlike the other parts of the walls, it seemed darker in color too. Not in a way that would be seen as a printing error, it just seemed unnaturally darker, like it wasn’t made to look like that.

Something drew his attention to it. 

He wanted to get closer, and see if it was just his mind playing tricks on him, or if it was just him being paranoid. Yet, while walking towards the wall, his foot caught on a strip of fallen metal, and he tripped. Bracing for impact to hit the wall, he flinched. But instead of hitting the wall, he phased through it. He felt as if he was being pushed by a boundary wall into an entirely different room when he phased through. 

The next thing he knew, he found himself in a well-lit room, fraying yellow patterned wall paper, hot fluorescent lights that made a soft hum-buzz, and a damp brown shag-carpet. 

Gordon felt as if he didn’t belong here, he got up and quickly walked backwards, to go back through the wall which he came, but only bumped into it instead. Well shit, this wasn’t good.

Gordon looked around, there wasn’t anyone in sight, or any exists for that matter. Well this was great, just great. He was not only alone, but he was also lost! Panicking probably wouldn’t do him any good, he could probably save that for later; is what he would’ve said if he wasn’t already panicking. He just phased through a fucking wall, and now is in an area with no people or exists in sight. 

Gordon took a deep breath. He should probably start walking, he thought. He’d probably eventually find an exit that way. Eventually. He checked if he still had everything; phone, crowbar, backpack full of stuff, all of his limbs, his clothes, his glasses. It was all there, so that was a relief. He attempted to walk into the wall he came from one more time, with no success. Oh well. 

And with that, he decided that he better start walking. 

—

Gordon had been walking for hours, how could he tell? He decided it’d probably be best if he set a stop watch on his phone to keep track of the time, because his phone’s clock didn’t work here. He convinced himself that he walked in circles, and had gone absolutely nowhere. It didn’t help that every room looked the same. 

Same fraying wall paper, same damp shag rug, same annoying hum-buzz. Nothing stood out to him in any of the rooms he entered, besides the occasional clump of moss and mold growing on the walls. That was until he found what looked to be a person. they were far away, on the other side of the room.

Of course, he was relieved, to say the least.

“H-hey! Do you know where we are?” he nervously called out. He had been panicking the entire time he had been walking, and you could tell. His voice echoed and boomeranged off the walls.

Gordon continued “I have no clue where we are- and my phone’s clock doesn’t work- And I’ve just- I’ve just had a long day” he cautiously stepped towards the person. 

As he got closer, it became extremely clear that this wasn’t a person he was talking to. The creature’s skin was lumpy, with unnaturally bulky hands and legs, partnered with a slender torso and neck, skin that bordered on being a pure milky white, and a large, bald head. It’s movements were sluggish, as it’s feet dragged on the ground. 

It seemed to notice Gordon, unfortunately, as it slowly turned it’s head to him. It’s eyes were sunken in, and a glowing white. It repeated Gordon, it’s voice matching his almost perfectly. “H-hey! Do you know where we are?” 

It stared at Gordon, now practically facing him. It kept repeating what he said, as it slowly started to walk towards him. Of course, with this, Gordon ran. He decided that he wasn’t going to die today, maybe another day. He kept looking over his shoulder, to see it was chasing him, it’s feet loudly stomping on the floor, and it’s heavy hands flailing as it ran. 

Through the halls, through each room, and each twist and turn, Gordon ran. It was hard to keep his balance at times, with the shag rug under his feet, sometimes catching onto parts of his shoes. Plus, he had to keep all the things he had from dropping. He knew that if he dropped anything he wouldn’t be able to go back to get it later. 

Eventually, running wasn’t enough anymore. He was backed into a corner, literally. His legs felt as if they could give out any moment but adrenaline wouldn’t allow it. his breaths were shallow and dry. he was holding his crowbar in front of him, ready to attack if he needed to. 

The creature grumbled and snarled, it looked hungry. 

That was until a bullet shot through the back of it’s head, making it drop to the ground almost instantly. it’s corpse now laid at Gordon’s feet, and Gordon was almost tempted to smack with his crowbar it just to make sure it was dead. Where blood was meant to be leaking out of the creature’s skull, a clear liquid came instead. 

Gross.

He looked up to see who the hell saved him- actually- to see who was able to have a gun here, and if they were a threat. 

He looked up from the body, to see a little round old man, holding a colt revolver. He had fluffy grey hair poofing out the sides of his head, accompanied with a matching mustache. His fashion sense was a bit outdated, high waisted pants with matching suspenders, and a long sleeved button-up shirt. For some reason, it suited him nicely. He had a massagers bag slinged over his shoulder, that seemed to be full of stuff. 

The man looked at Gordon, and gave a warm smile “Hello!” 

Gordon looked at the old man dropped to his knees and doubled over in the fetal position to catch his breath, he was experiencing too many things at once today. He already needed a break. 

The man walked to him and sat next to Gordon. “I’m dr.Coomer!” The man said, his voice had an extremely positive and happy disposition. Was he always like this? 

“Uh... Gordon.” Gordon responded, looking at coomer. He brought out his hand for a hand shake, and coomer took it. Coomer’s grip on Gordon’s hand was firm yet comforting.

“Hello, Gordon!”


	2. New team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to come out, I didn’t really have a clue of what to write next. But, I got it out! Sorry it’s a bit short

Dr.Coomer was well read on the world they both were in. The place they were in was a world called the backrooms, a world with many entrances and no known exists that is outside of the one we’re used to. Hinting that our world was more than what we expected, and that our world might not entirely be our own.

He told Gordon about his years or research on this subject before intentionally traveling here. How he came here to learn more, and see what he could document. He also told Gordon a little about the monster that attacked him. 

“A skin stealer, is what they are! They rip off your skin and wear it when they’re hungry.” Coomer said, he seemed so happy to finally be able to share is knowledge with someone else. 

“So that thing was gonna rip off my skin??” Gordon was slightly terrified at the fact that he could’ve been some other creatures’ lunch. 

“Yep! They we’re gonna eat your remaining flesh too! If it wasn’t for me, you’d be a pile of skinned and half-eaten human on the ground.” Coomer seemed triumphant, slightly bragging that he did, indeed, save Gordon’s life. 

They walked in silence for a few moments, before Gordon looked at coomer, puzzled “how do I know you’re not a skin stealer?” 

Coomer laughed “well, first thing, they can’t speak, they can only repeat people. And two, I don’t have clear blood. They do. You’re safe with me, don’t worry.”

Gordon and coomer continued to walk, Gordon had so many questions in his brain, is there anyone else? How did coomer get here? Are there more monsters? Why did coomer leave everything behind to come to this place? One of those questions were soon answered when coomer began to speak again.

“I lost my travel group when helping you, so we should probably look for them.” He then went into a mumble, something about a guy named Bubby. That’s a weird name. 

Ignoring whatever coomer said while mumbling, he kept the conversation going. “You did? Well they’re probably nearby then.” He said. 

Gordon looked around anxiously, both because he wanted to at least be nearby more people than just coomer, not that coomer was weak. Well, he actually didn’t know if coomer was weak or not- but he was getting off track- he wanted to at least have a smaller chance of getting attacked; he assumed the monsters in this world don’t attack large groups unless they’re in a large group themself.   
Plus, a revolver and a crowbar could only take you so far. 

Gordon was still a bit shaken up from the whole skin stealer attack, so he decided to drag his hand gently across the wall closest to him as they walked. That might calm him down, he thought.

—

They continued to walk around the corridors and empty halls of the Backrooms, silent, because they ran out of conversation topics. Neither wanted to press the other with any more questions, both worrying if they’ve already asked too much.

They both had been wandering for about 2 or 3 hours? Neither had bothered to check. The thick, musky air filled the room like water within a bottle. Gordon was about to say something, maybe stopping to rest, before coomer outstretched a hand in front of Gordon. 

“What’re yo-“ Gordon asked, but was quickly shushed by coomer. 

Coomer looked around cautiously. Looking up and down, left and right. He drew his revolver out of his messengers bag. Gordon took it as a cue to ready himself for another monster, readying his crowbar. 

Suddenly, both heard faint voices. Both tensed up only to see...

A group of travelers, each sporting attire from different eras. Gordon didn’t let his guard down, but, coomer on the other hand, did. 

“Hello professor Bubby!” Coomer said, Walking over to the second tallest. 

‘Bubby’ smiled, he was in a black turtleneck and some contrasting and slightly tacky pants. his thinly rimmed glasses where extremely smudged and dirtied, you could barely make out his eyes. He didn’t have a bag, and didn’t really seem to need one.

Next to Bubby, was an extremely tall young man, he also had a sweater, except his was more colorful, covered in multi-color stripes and a soft reddish-pink base. He had a propeller hat, that matched his sweater. He also had a messenger bag, but it seemed to be a lot less full than coomer’s.

Behind the both of the new faces, was someone who seemed to be a little taller than coomer. They looked to be Gordon’s age. They seemed to look a bit different than the others, though. their face and arms riddled with unusually large circular scars, and if the holes weren’t large, they were scars of large clumps of much smaller holes. They had a full backpack, and wore a security guard outfit, even with the helmet and bullet proof vest, their helmet shadowed their eyes, only really able to make out their mouth and nose. Their name was sprawled out on a disheveled name tag on their chest.

“Benry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was a good chapter, again, I’m so sorry it took so long to come out! Writers block isn’t very nice. But, I hope you liked it none the less!

**Author's Note:**

> I’m a bit rusty when it comes to writing fanfiction (I haven’t written a serious fanfic in a few years now) but HLVRAI caught my attention, and I wanted to make something for it! I hope it wasn’t too short for a first chapter.


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